Much Needed Relief

JHS Mattress Sale Raises Money For Football Program

March 10, 2013

Area residents can sleep better on their new mattresses knowing that they helped to make a difference for Jamestown High School's football program.

On Saturday, the program hosted its fourth annual mattress sale at Jefferson Middle School, which ran from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The mattress sale is a regular fundraiser that directly benefits JHS' football program. In partnership with Custom Fundraising Solutions, a Western New York-based company, the program's sale offered new name-brand mattresses of all sizes at discount prices.

The mattresses were displayed in the cafeteria at Jefferson, with CFS employees on hand to provide information. The sale also offered free delivery and layaway. According to Tom McNamara, owner of CFS, the purpose of his company, which has no storefront, is solely to benefit school programs.

Article Photos

Members of Jamestown High School’s varsity and JV football teams took to the streets to advertise the football program’s annual mattress sale and fundraiser, which took place at Jefferson Middle School on Saturday. Pictured in the back, from left, are: Mike Parker, Erik Tingue and Jacis Blake. In front is Lucas Munella, sporting a mattress costume.P-J photo by Gavin Paterniti

"What you see is what we do," he said. "We've been doing this since 2008, and we work with usually between 50 and 60 groups a year. And all we do is this fundraising. We go from school to school. Our office and warehouse is based in Cheektowaga, and we bring our portable store into a school for a day. Through basic marketing in the community, we let people know what's going on - and then they come in and support their team."

He added: "Unfortunately, there's a lot of need. And thankfully, we're able to help out."

While the football players weren't directly involved with the sale of mattresses, they could be seen on several street corners throughout Jamestown, showing off their dance moves and waving signs to direct traffic toward the sale. According to Dave Munella, assistant coach of JHS' varsity team, CFS does all of the legwork for the fundraiser.

"(CFS) handles everything," said Munella. "They pay for all of the advertising and do all of the setup. We just use our kids for advertising, and they hand out fliers. And the kids actually have fun."

As for the fundraising aspect of the sale, Munella said that it is a necessity.

"In this day and age, you have to do anything you can to help your programs," he said. "More and more is being cut from (school) budgets, and this is one way to supplement the (football) program's budgets. A lot of the money goes toward helping to buy meals and equipment for the kids that they can't afford. And it's stuff that the school could never and will never pay for again, so you've got to be creative. All the money goes back to our kids, and that's why we do these things."